The end of a renaissance period.

Well, my roommate Amos leaves for basic training today at 6PM. He'll be gone for at least 6 months for regular schooling (basic + psy-ops school + jump school), and then probably longer for Rangers training if he can make it. After that, he'll probably get shipped over to Iraq to serve, which is really what he's aiming for in the long run, but that's not for certain. As an active reservist, he's pretty much guaranteed to see some action considering the standing full-time army essentially includes the reserves at this point.

The past year was really neat, though. We lost touch after high school after being incredibly close friends during those years... and then didn't lose a step and became roommates. No actual conflicts really came out of the whole time, either - we had lean times, fat times, and good times... and never got into anything more rough than who had to take out the trash. It felt like an adult rebirth of high school/middle school days, and it was a hell of a good time.

So now there's a transition... my new-ish roommate is someone I've known for a long while and who I'm great friends with as well, so it'll be a good time, too. But there was something unique and fun about the high school renaissance that went on over the past year. We had discussions about investments, retirement, taxes, women, etc... alongside our old talk of videogames, D&D, sci-fi, and stuff like that. It was weird, something I'd not experienced in a long while, especially after not seeing someone for 3 years.

Ah well. He'll do well to defend the country and kick ass. He'll make a hell of a lot more money than I am being a private mercenary or intelligence operative, anyway. The end of a unique time is nigh, I guess. I'm cool with it. Just wistful for a minute.